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Gods and Goddesses Just a list of books and authors who inspire me. Alan Cooper
The Inmates Are Running the Asylum
What do you get when you cross a computer with a camera? Cooper's book on interaction design should be read by every designer—not just people who create software.
Jakob Nielsen
Designing Web Usability My copy is splattered with Post-It Notes; I started marking pages that contained something I should do and gave up when I realized it would be simpler to mark pages that I should ignore. This academician finally wrote a book for the general user. Another book I'd like to force people to read.
Robin Williams
The PageMaker Companion I was first introduced to Robin Williams when I was struggling to learn PageMaker, a wonderful if confusing page-layout program (easy to use but hard to learn). Her book, The PageMaker Companion, showed me the ins and outs of publishing, from which file format to use for graphics to how to manage an index. It is no doubt the best manual for any computer program I have ever used. But it was The Non-Designer’s Design Book that truly introduced me to not only the right way to go about things, but the reason why it should be done right. Through simple but elegant examples, she teaches you how to look, and, more importantly, how to analyze what you can now see. When you’re finished with this brief book, you find yourself decrying the bad design all around you and are tempted to give the book to everyone you know. Or, at least, to everyone responsible for producing things that you’re forced to look at. Her web book is an extension of the original Design Book that focuses on web-only issues. If everyone read this book, the web would be a much more hospitable place. You can find out more about her at the Peachpit Press author site.
Lynda Weinman
Coloring Web Graphics The first, and best, books on using color on the web. Written from the point of view of graphic design, they gets behind the details of how graphics work on the web. Not only how to choose the best format and optimize file size, but why things work (and don’t). And she understands the “give so that you may receive” promise of the net: from the beginning she has made her knowledge and hard work available for all—free—on the web.
Edward Tufte
The Visual Display of Quantitative Data The first book was unlike anything in recent publishing history. Focusing primarily on the presentation of statistical information, it was not widely read outside of scientific circles. But excellence won out and it is still in print, along with the two newer volumes. If you ever have the chance to hear Tufte speak, do it. Part showman, part evangelist, he’s a tireless searcher for truth and fairness. From the space shuttle disaster to Galileo, you won’t be bored. all original content copyright Margaret A. Martin, 1999-2008 |
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